Hurricane Wilma-Most Iintense Storm Ever

[Spearit]

Wilma Now Most Intense Atlantic Storm Ever

This looks to downgrade to a 3 when it hits the Florida Coast but we may have members in harms way again so contact can be made with them as to needs and support.

Wednesday, October 19, 2005
SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras - Gathering strength at a fierce pace, Hurricane Wilma swirled into the most intense Atlantic storm ever recorded Wednesday, a Category 5 monster packing 175 mph wind that forecasts warned was "extremely dangerous."

Wilma was dumping rain on Central America and Mexico, and forecasters warned of a "significant threat" to Florida by the weekend.

"All interests in the Florida Keys and the Florida peninsula should closely monitor the progress of extremely dangerous Hurricane Wilma," the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

Wilma's confirmed pressure readings Wednesday morning dropped to 882 millibars - the lowest minimum pressure ever measured in a hurricane in the Atlantic basin, according to the hurricane center. Lower pressure translates into higher wind speed.

Forecasters said Wilma was stronger than the devastating Labor Day hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935, the strongest Atlantic hurricane to make landfall on record. But Wilma wasn't expected to keep its record strength for long, as higher disruptive atmospheric winds in the Gulf of Mexico around the hurricane should weaken it before landfall, said Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the hurricane center.

[Lsufan]

Members At BettorsChat Who May Be In The Path Of Wilma,

May God Bless you and your families. Please guys, don't try to ride out this storm. Take your family and get out of there. I learned my leason with Katrina. I stayed and rode out the storm. Well, the storm didn't affect my home, and I was very lucky and blessed. But the days after the storm were hell. Evacuate accordingly so you can be safe, then return after power has been restored.

I will be praying for everyone who may be affected by Wilma.

Wishing you all the best,

Jimmy

[frankb03]

I'm fucken sick of these hurricanes. It's almost November and this shit is still going on.

[SustainDan]

im in WPB so here it comes

[Spearit]

There is alot of us in Fla on this site so keep updates flowing where you see it. I am happy I sold my place on the Gulf in July. Dan -you very well may be in the path. Lets hope the upper winds shear it apart before landfall.

[savage1]

When I was a kid in the fifties, the talk was there was a way to seed hurricanes to diminish their strength.
Here is it 50 years later, and the problem still remains.
It doesn't make sense to me;there are all kinds of launches to outer space and very sophisticated equipment to bring the vehicles back, take photos, etc. and yet nothing can be done about hurricanes.
Somehow I think that if the best minds had put their heads together over the last 50 years, hurricanes like Katrina would be broken up before they could wreak their destruction.
I think there is more here than meets the eye-perhaps the big business interests who profit bigtime from hurricanes don't want them completely eliminated(yeah I know that is pretty cynical, but sometimes I wonder this in the same way I do when I think about cars, and why there are not a lot more fuel efficient cars on the road in this day and age).

[Spearit]

Savage - we are of like age and never before has the storms been this bad in recorded time. Seeding never panned out for whatever reason-. I believe we should go where the storms begin and add barriers to the sweep off of cape horn. This would not allow the storms to gain momentum on the kickoff.

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Visitors were ordered out of the Florida Keys on Wednesday as Hurricane Wilma briefly exploded into the most intense Atlantic hurricane on record, with meteorologists warning that it could maintain devastating power as it crosses Florida from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic.

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The storm, which was menacing Cuba and Central America, could be a weakened but still significant threat to the state by this weekend, forecasters said. Its sustained wind blew at 165 mph Wednesday afternoon, down from 175 mph earlier in the day.

Wilma was expected to come ashore in southwestern Florida, threatening coastal areas like Punta Gorda that were battered by Charley, the Category 4 storm that was the first of seven hurricanes to strike or pass close to the state since August 2004.

Monroe County officials ordered visitors out of the Florida Keys. Tourists are generally told to leave ahead of others on the lengthy chain of islands connected by one highway.

On the state's southwest coast, Collier County officials hadn't ordered anyone to leave the Naples area, but "we are telling those folks who are more comfortable evacuating to go ahead. If they wait there could be road congestion and other problems," said Jaime Sarbagh, a county emergency management spokeswoman.

Early Tuesday, Wilma was only a tropical storm with wind of 70 mph. With wind more than 100 mph faster by the same time Wednesday, it had shown the most rapid strengthening ever recorded in a hurricane, said Hugh Cobb, a meteorologist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami.

By afternoon, Wilma was being disrupted by upper atmosphere wind in the Gulf of Mexico, forecasters said. As the storm moves north into the gulf, it will encounter water temperatures that are 1 or 2 degrees lower than those in the Caribbean, which should inhibit its strength more, Cobb said.

Still, it's forecast to be a potentially devastating Category 3 or 4 hurricane when it makes landfall in Florida, although experts acknowledge they have little skill in making strength forecasts. A Category 3 storm has wind of at least 111 mph, a Category 4 has wind of 131 to 155 mph, and a Category 5 is anything above that.

At 2 p.m. Wednesday, Wilma was still in the western Caribbean, about 520 miles south of Key West and wobbling toward the west-northwest at 7 mph. However, the storm should eventually make a sharp right turn toward Florida and pick up forward speed in the Gulf of Mexico because it will get caught in the westerlies, the strong wind current that generally blows toward the east, forecasters said.

The White House promised to remain on top of the situation. "We are closely monitoring what is an extremely dangerous storm," said Scott McClellan, spokesman for President Bush. "People should take this hurricane very seriously."

Wilma was expected to move across Florida rapidly, which means it wouldn't weaken much over land, Cobb said. That makes it possible that Atlantic coast cities such as Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach could be hit by wind nearly as strong as on the west coast, he said.

Paul Malbon anxiously watched Wilma's progress from the five-story Best Western waterfront hotel he owns and runs in Fort Myers Beach, on the west coast south of Punta Gorda. Hurricane Charley's storm surge shoved sand and water into the ground floor last year but everything was quickly repaired.

"I don't wish bad luck on anybody else but I hope it doesn't come here," he said Wednesday.

Asked if he feared the area might get slammed again, he replied: "Only the man upstairs knows the answer to that one. It don't look good at the moment."

Charley was the first of six hurricanes to strike the state since August 2004, causing more than $20 billion and killing nearly 150 people.

The state routinely replenishes emergency supplies of water, food and ice at staging points so no additional action is needed, emergency management spokesman Mike Stone said earlier. Supermarkets and home-repair chains stocked extra food, ice and other supplies.

Many Punta Gorda homes and businesses have been rebuilt in a construction boom, but some are still boarded up. More than 6,800 federal trailers and mobile homes remain scattered around the state as temporary housing installed after the six storms, with 934 in Charlotte County alone.

Wilma made history before hitting land. It is the 12th hurricane of the season, the same number reached in 1969, the highest since record-keeping began in 1851. It is also the 21st named storm, tying the record set in 1933.

The six-month hurricane season ends Nov. 30. Wilma is the last on the 21-name list for storms this year. If any other storms form, letters from the Greek alphabet would be used for the first time, starting with Alpha.

___

On the Net:

National Hurricane Center: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov

[savage1]

Spearit-I understand what you are saying, but I still maintain that in 50 years more progress/effort could/should have been made to control these nasty storms.

[Watchtower76]

Spearit-I understand what you are saying, but I still maintain that in 50 years more progress/effort could/should have been made to control these nasty storms.

You will never be able to control a 800mile storm, impossible...and for those who think it's global warming, totally wrong....the strongest hurricans on record happened in the 40's and 50's and now were back into a cycle....they will pound the gulf coast for the next 5 years with great intensity and then have another couple of decade lull. Hurricans' are the most amazing creatures, but there is nothing we can do to stop them in there track.....